


I Will Be Father and Mother to You

by Icarus5800



Category: Les Misérables - All Media Types, Les Misérables - Victor Hugo
Genre: Because it's unavoidable with Jean Valjean, Gen, Gorbeau House, Pure pointless fluff, With a dash of angst?
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-04-26
Updated: 2013-04-26
Packaged: 2017-12-09 13:11:43
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 800
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/774588
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Icarus5800/pseuds/Icarus5800
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A day in the life of Valjean and Cosette at Gorbeau House.</p>
            </blockquote>





	I Will Be Father and Mother to You

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Carmarthen](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Carmarthen/gifts).



> Not exactly what you prompted, Carmarthen, but I hope you enjoy anyways.

“Papa! Papa, won’t you play with me?”

Jean Valjean is roused from his grave contemplation of their uncertain future by an insistent pulling at his sleeve. The eager face of Cosette gazes up at him, hopefully imploring. He gives silent thanks to God that this little girl who has known far too much of hardship at too many hands has never been afraid of him.

“Very well, my child,” he smiles indulgently, “What would you like to play?”

“Catherine needs a papa. You are the best papa in the world. Will you be her papa?” There is no guile or affectation in her voice, only the purest conviction.

“Cosette, I…” Valjean feels his throat close and his eyes burn. It is strange, he thinks, how a few words from one he loves may move him thus. He blinks rapidly, not wishing to burden Cosette with his insecurities and fears of inadequacy.

It is some time before he is composed enough to speak again. “But are you not her mama, Cosette?”

“I am,” Cosette says with that simple faith peculiar to children, for whom imagination and reality are indistinguishable, “Catherine is a good little girl and I am the proudest mama in the world.”

“Then since I am your papa and you are Catherine’s mama, would it not be more fitting that I be her grandfather instead?”

“What does a grandfather do?”

Valjean thinks back to his childhood. His father had died falling from a tree, and his mother from medical malpractice during treatment for her milk fever. Had he ever had a grandfather? He cannot recall. He shall have to improvise, then, as he does with every other aspect of parenting.

“A grandfather tells wonderful stories before the fireplace and watches over the children as they play, making sure that they do not come to harm.”

“But is that not what a papa does?”

Reflecting upon the few weeks they have been living together, Valjean realizes the truth of Cosette’s question. “But a grandfather will be able to do that all the time, while a papa has other duties and often has to be away from the family.”

“But you are rarely away, Papa.” Cosette’s skepticism quickly changes to alarm when a new and frightening possibility occurred to her. She sets Catherine aside and throws herself into Valjean’s arms, her voice muffled by his waistcoat. “Will you promise never to be away for too long?”

Once more Valjean finds himself unable to speak, touched by this absolute dependence on him and so very afraid that he will prove himself unworthy of it. In a few short weeks, Cosette has become the purpose of his existence. He cannot bear to break her heart. At last he whispers, “I will try. I promise I will try.”

Cosette pouts, not entirely satisfied with the answer but willing to let the matter rest for now. She shifts naturally back into their earlier topic, “What else does a grandfather do?”

Valjean makes good use of his admittedly limited imagination. “A grandfather plays with the vigor and delight of a child. He crafts toys out of straw and builds castles out of sand. He will hold a child on his knees in winter to keep her warm, and play the flute for her in the summer to distract her from the stifling heat. He sings lullabies to put her to sleep with the sweetest dreams.”

He is pretty sure not all grandfathers could or would do those things, and indeed some of them seem to be the traditional duties of the mother. But what matters is that he is capable of accomplishing them should Cosette ask it of him; he runs no risk of disappointing her.

Besides, Cosette has never known, or at the very least cannot remember the love of a mother. And he, due to his unfortunate circumstance, will never be able to provide her with one. He wishes to remedy that lack if at all possible, and he tries hard to recall what he can of his mother that he may do for Cosette what she had done for him.

Cosette ponders the role of the grandfather for some time, then nods solemnly, “Very well. Then you may be Catherine’s grandfather.”

Valjean feels a rush of affection at her serious little face, a face that perhaps will never be objectively pretty, but will always be to him beautiful beyond compare. He adds this expression to his collection of cherished memories. He does not dare entertain the possibility that the day may come when memory will be all he has.

Though his concerns for their future have not disappeared, gazing upon Cosette now as she tries to teach Catherine to read as he has taught her, he thinks that he can be happy forever.

**Author's Note:**

> I am not even going to bother apologizing with this one.


End file.
